


The Brink of Discovery, The Brink of Breaking

by Spacejoth



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Gen, Minor Injuries, Non-binary Moira, Platonic Relationships, a lot of it, glass breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 01:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13225521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacejoth/pseuds/Spacejoth
Summary: "On the brink of discovery one cannot break."





	The Brink of Discovery, The Brink of Breaking

On the brink of discovery, one does not question their stability. One does not question their breaking point. That is now Moira O’Deorain lived their life, but even they had to learn a breakthrough is easily shattered by a breakdown.   
For years they hid, for the work they took such pride and joy in was shunned outside the others in the shadows. 

The scientist now looked at the drafting in front of them. How could someone fail such a simple project? Simple. Failed. Just an upgrade for an agent, and yet they failed it. It was not taken like most of their failures. There was no taking hours to re-plan in detail. There was no trying again until perfection was reached. There was only the snap. 

With one shuddering breath, they slammed their hand on the drafting, and moved their fingers inward, crumpling the pages. They tried to calm down, to take a deep breath. For a moment, Moira turned away from the table, their fists clenched tightly. They stared at the wall on the opposite end of the room. All their life, they tried, and they re-tried, and they re-tried. The independence they so prided themselves on was slowly shrinking. They hated every moment, and turned back to the table, taking the drafting in their hand and crushing it even more. 

They once again pressed their palms against the table, leaning over other foldered projects . A tear fell below, and the sight of it being absorbed by the paper infuriated them. They swept all the folders off the desk, and multiple papers scattered. They shoved the table aside, nearly knocking it over. They began to pull out drawers filled with other documents, and willingly watched as even more hard work and dedication spilled out onto the laboratory floor. They glanced at the shelves of glass beakers and vials before pausing. Moira leaned on the counter, placing their head on one of the cabinets. 

They hated letting loneliness sink in. They hated every moment. Their eyes snapped open, and they grasped one of the beakers and threw it across the room. Soon enough more broken glass was massacre upon the laboratory. With a sob, they took a vial and slowly shattered it with their hand, the glass cutting into them. They paid no mind to the blood that slowly dripped. With just a few moments, chairs were on the ground, containers and cases all spilled. With one last sob, Moira slid down one of the walls, ignoring the sting of glass in their hand. 

The work of nearly an entire lifetime was scattered all over a laboratory. Papers and files spread across the tabletops and the floor, tipped beakers and vials and shattered glass, and the absolute genius behind it all on the ground, surrounded by broken glass and drops of blood on papers. The cuts from the glass of their disappointment, and in between their knees, their face was soaked in tears. 

The spilling of files, the knocking of glass. The tears of years of emotional repression, all finally out. Moira always felt independent, they always felt strong. They hated the feeling of that all shrinking away. They stayed in this position for countless time. Maybe just minutes. Maybe an hour. They looked up only when they heard voices outside of the lab. A sudden panic sunk in. 

They couldn't be seen or found like this. In no way possible. They attempted to get up, not remembering the slices in their skin. They cried out when their hands met the ground in attempt to push themselves up. They sunk back down and let out another small sob. 

They watched the silhouettes pass outside the door, and muttered, “Let them come. What does it matter anymore?” 

They lost track of time, detaching from the world and all they knew. Seeing black was easier than seeing fear and disappointment. 

A sudden movement of the doorknob snapped them back, and a voice, “I'll be done in a second, I just need to talk to Moira.”

They rolled their head back slightly and closed their eyes. Of course. Only Gabe ever came to see them anyways. Moira opened their eyes, and looked in the direction of the door, where there stood Gabe, frozen. 

“Fuck.” He said quietly. 

Moira laughed bitterly, “why so much shock in your voice Reaper, surprised to see the stone cold scientist in tears?”

He walked in, and glanced around before looking down at them, “what the hell happened in here? Did someone break in? Are you okay? Why the fuck are you bleeding what the hell? Are you crying? Holy shit Moira what did you… “ he trailed off.   
They once again laughed, “oh no one broke in, its nothing really, just my entire life and dedication sprawled and broken across a laboratory floor.”

Gabe looked at them again, this time noticing the drops of blood and their hands.

“Shit,” he said quietly, “lets… Lets get your hand cleaned up.”

Moira glanced at their hand, “Oh.. I forgot about that. No need to panic, I'll be fine.”

“You're dripping blood from your hand, and I'm not a doctor or something, but I know that isnt healthy.”

“I..” They smiled, “can not get up really. I have already failed to use my hands as leverage, so it seems I am stuck here for a bit until I re-gain energy.”

Gabe signed, and slowly slid down next to them, “alright fine, I see you don't want to get your ass up and practice self-care, but I'm not going to let you bleed out.”

Moira shrugged, “don't you dare go get something to clean my cuts, I will do that myself when I am ready.”

“Moira I swear to God I am going to start screeching if you dont-”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, okay fine, bleed out to death.”

They scoffed, “this will not make me bleed out.”

“You could get an infection.”

“You were not kidding when you said you aren't a doctor it seems. I am, however, and I know when I am no longer safe.”

“Yeah sure okay. Sounds fake and I'm just looking out for you. But okay.”

“Shut up.”

The man fell silent, and both of them leaned their heads back on the wall. 

“Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or are we going to sit here while you bleed and tell me to shut up?”

“We will get to that.”

A few more minutes drew on before Moira finally sighed and leaned up. They winced as they pushed themselves to stand. Gabe was not far behind, and he followed them over to the sink where they began to rinse the cuts on their hands. 

“Will you be okay?”

“Yes.”

“Do you need anything?”

“No.”

“Alright.”

 

They turned off the sink, and walked over to two of the toppled chairs to pick them back up. After sitting in one, they gestured to the one in front of them. Gabriel sat down, immediately facing them. 

“Dear god this feels like one of our extended therapy sessions,” they mumbled, “anyways you know my rules Gabriel. Mask off please.”

He scoffed before taking off his mask, and he pulled down the hood of his uniform, “happy now mom?”

Moira smirked slightly, “yes, thank you.”

A moment of silence passed, and Gabe looked back up at Moira, his expression concerned, “you've done so much for me, it's only fair you let me help try to help you, Moira.”

The scientist nodded slightly, their eyes on the ground. They took a deep breath, “Quite frankly the basis of it I am a disappointment. I failed the simplest of tasks today, I so desperately cleave to my ever-sinking independence, and I have learned today it is still possible to get dysphoria at the age of forty eight with top surgery. Very little analysis must be done here, and that is all I want to say.”

Gabe looked at his friend sadly, “you're brilliant. You're an absolute genius.”

“What an interesting hypothesis.”

“No look at me please, Moira.”

They looked up at him, and he continued, “you're the smartest fucking person I've ever met in my life. None of the agents here, at Overwatch, anywhere have a brain like yours. And I don't want to lecture you about independence because I'm an oversized hypocrite, but I sure as hell wish you leaned on someone more, because this,” he gestured around the room and at their hands, “is clearly the turnout when you don't. Now I'm a half dead old man on the verge of fucking tears because the little shit of Talon, Moira O’Deorain, is a mess. And that mess happens to mean a lot to me believe it or not, so what I'm trying to say here is you're one of my best friends and I want you to fucking care about yourself because I sure as hell care about you.”

Moira looked back down for a moment, and once again saw a tear drop. And this time, they stopped to think. Perhaps it was okay to lean on someone, and to take breaks and to be angry. It was perhaps, okay to not be okay. Perhaps it was okay to cry. And so they did. They looked back up at Gabe, and held out their hand. He looked confused for a moment before taking it. 

“When are you, Sombra, and Amelie leaving?”

“What?”

They laughed a bit, “don't act like the four of you are hiding well from me. I know you're going back to Overwatch soon.”

“We…” he paused, “We don't know. Soon. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I should-”

“Its alright. You weren't sure if id want to come with you.”

“Do you want to?”

Moira sighed, and thought on their choices. They could stay with Talon and remain the Oasis minister. The two organizations supplied for and supported their experiments. That was always the most important thing. Perhaps it wasn't the only most important thing now. 

“I think so.”

Gabe smiled at his friend, and laughed a bit, “God look at us. Look at Talon. I'm an old man who's wistfully thinking about his ex boyfriend, Amelie is a mind controlled puppet of this shitty terrorist organization, you're an absolute mastermind with overly bottled up emotions, and Sombra’s a depressed orphan who does anything she fucking can to hide the fact she's depressed.”

Moira smiled too, “but it is the closest thing to a family we've all ever had. I have learned to love it.”

“Two three depressed children with the equally depressed lesbian non-binary parent and the gay dad. Perfect.”

“And Akande.”

“Yes of course and Akande.”

The two friends laughed together, and Moira stood, pulling Gabe with them. The man froze when they suddenly hugged him, but did not hesitate to hug back. 

“Thank you, Gabe.”

“Yeah, of course. You know I'm shit at this stuff but I just wanna say that I. You really”

Moira pulled back from the hug, and smiled, “I love you too, Gabe.”

“Yeah.. That.”

They looked around the lab and sighed, “I suppose I have to clean… This mess now.”

“Ill get the other two to help.”

“If you tell them I cried I'll shoot you.”

“Right back at you.”

 

On the brink of discovery, one must learn when they are on the brink of breaking. There can be no hesitation. There can be no second guessing. There can only be healing. 

Moira O’Deorain finally learned this prominent fact as they cleaned the mess of their hesitation. However, not alone. Never again alone, but with Gabe's love hidden with sarcasm, the constant sass and joy of Sombra, alongside the smiles and laughs cloaked with scolding from Amelie. Never again alone, but with family.


End file.
